These are work-in-progress screenshots of a black hole, rocky planets, and a sun like star in Universe Sandbox 2.

Further down you can find three new (and very early) screenshots of a galaxy, rocky bodies, and ring debris.

Universe Sandbox 2 is a major update due out in 2013 for both Windows and Mac. This is a full rewrite of Universe Sandbox in a new 3D engine.

These screenshots largely represent the amazing shader and graphic programming work of Georg at IonStar in Solingen, Germany. And thanks to Chris for his excellent (and unseen) UI system and code that glues everything together.

Wheres the jaw drop smiley? I'm asking because we need one, but I guess this one is the closest

WOW, just WOW! I'm finding it hard to believe (and at the same time, I DO believe) that such awesomeness is going to be in Ubox3, I guess we are too used to what it is now, but believe me, I'm not saying that I won't like it or anything, this will be going to a new level of awesome.

I mean, seriously, those screenshots have the quality of a CG render.

Also, if the planet behind Earth is suppoused to be Venus, its missing its clouds. What the other two behind Mars are, no clue (the last one could be The Moon and the next one could be Io or another Venus?.

Also, if the planet behind Earth is suppoused to be Venus, its missing its clouds. What the other two behind Mars are, no clue (the last one could be The Moon and the next one could be Io or another Venus?.

Amazing. The ring objects seem to look a bit big, and the stars in the galaxy also seem big imo, but maybe that's the best idea considering most computers can't handle enough stars/ring objects to make galaxies and rings look smooth with smaller objects.

Also, if the planet behind Earth is suppoused to be Venus, its missing its clouds. What the other two behind Mars are, no clue (the last one could be The Moon and the next one could be Io or another Venus?.

The one behind Mars is Mercury.

Shouldn't it be more of a greyish color (maybe with some reddish color to it?) than a yellow-red similar to cloudless Venus?

Also, if the planet behind Earth is suppoused to be Venus, its missing its clouds. What the other two behind Mars are, no clue (the last one could be The Moon and the next one could be Io or another Venus?.

Yeah... that's Venus with no clouds and it needs clouds. This is all a work-in-progress and we haven't finalized anything yet. In order the planets are: Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Pluto.

The ring objects seem to look a bit big, and the stars in the galaxy also seem big imo, but maybe that's the best idea considering most computers can't handle enough stars/ring objects to make galaxies and rings look smooth with smaller objects.

Yes, objects are too big right now. The ring objects are the first example of this that Georg got working, so almost no tuning or adjustments have been made yet.

Shouldn't it be more of a greyish color (maybe with some reddish color to it?) than a yellow-red similar to cloudless Venus?

Yes... just like Venus, Mercury's coloring and appearance is totally wrong at the moment. The hard part is getting all the new tech to work together, once that's finalized we can tune and tweak the appearance and colors.

A couple more comments about the screenshots:

The galaxy screenshot is also very early and in-progress. Eric, an astronomer who's recently joined the project, is still ramping up but has already pointed out how the distribution of stars is inaccurate (it should be much higher in the center; not as even) and he will be writting code to improve make it more realistic.

He will also be working on hooking up stellar evolution code soon. < I'm really excited about this.

And the rocky bodies (the 5th screenshot) is the result of some very early and experimental code that allows for bodies much more interesting than perfect spheres.

Thanks again. We can't wait to let all of you try this out for yourselves.

Wow! That is very impressive. I'm curious what will be the system requirements.

Not sure exactly... but if you can run the current version (v2) then you'll be able to run the new version (v3). Although it is possible some graphical effects won't work on very old hardware, you'll still be able to run the core simulation.

thanks for the kind words, much appreciated! I'm really excited to be on the project. Developing Universe Sandbox is great fun, Dan is really a joy to work with, as are my other teammates Chris, Thomas and Eric. Sort of like a rock band, but with less groupies, more coffee and a lot quieter. Well, maybe not like a rock band. But still rocking.

When working in the industry you find yourself in a very restrictive environment sometimes... development isn't cheap, and that cuts down on the time you have, and in the end, creativity and attention to detail suffer. Not over here, though - we're still working hard to get a release out to you quickly, but not at the cost of rushing it. So I've got more headroom to make things look good, which makes us - and you, too - smile more. That's what we're here for, right?

Most visuals you see in the screenshots are work in progress and as such will continue to be awesomized (awesomified? incrawesomed? you know, that kinda thing), so stick around and keep the feedback coming, we're listening to you, talking about your opinions and insights just the same as we do about ours.